Love Thy Window

My boyfriend and I live in an apartment near campus, and as many of you know, it is hard to make an apartment your own with minimal holes in the walls and no paint. But this is where my love of fabric and texture can really take center stage. Our bedroom has an East facing window. I love waking up with the sun (most of the time), but in the summer, this means waking up as early as 6. No thank you.

Our blinds fixed most of the problem, but the sun would manage to sneak through the minimal slits anyway. I decided that with my new sewing machine, I'll make curtains!

Why not? It seems easy enough. All the seams will be straight. I took a textiles class just this past year about calculating the yardage. This seemed like a very doable project!

Well, about a month later, I am finally done! And I love the results!

You like it? I sure do! They are light enough not to weigh down our small bedroom, but thick enough to diffuse the sunlight. 

Let me just go over a couple of my difficulties:

I am impatient. That creates a problem in and of itself. I found the perfect fabric.

I bought 3 yards before calculating how much I would really need. As I started sewing it, I figured out I had just enough, and continued on my way.  I decided to sew the top hem first (which is now the bottom hem), then sew the sides. See the dilemma yet? Yeah I did- AFTER I already did it. Sewing the side hems prevented a rod from going through. 

Then I thought, well now it can just be the bottom hem! A few more calculations later, I realized with this giant bottom hem (which I now love), that I was now in a fabric deficit. A few weeks later, and I pick out the solid aqua to match. This was WAY better than I had imagined! 

Going back, I would have had both fabrics, and sewn them together. THEN side hems before anything else! And lastly I would have cuffed the bottom hem and added the top one for the rod.

Its all experience right? And even with the odd way of putting them together, I am rather fond of my new curtains.

Mr Sun, tomorrow I will choose when we say hello :)